Photo: Ian Lean The United Kingdom’s biggest mountain bike park is planning a major expansion over the next 5-10 years. Bike Park Wales (BPW), in conjunction with landowner Natural Resources Wales (NRW), has a long-term plan to grow the park both within and beyond its existing footprint.
Bike Park Wales is often considered the flagship mountain bike facility in the UK. Founded by Rowan Sorrell, his partner Martin Astley, and their wives, the park opened in 2013 and has been welcoming thousands of UK riders a year to its ever-growing network of mountain bike trails served by an all-day shuttle uplift service . Photo: Ian Lean 30km of new shuttle-served trails and 24km of e-bike trails are planned.
The existing footprint of the park, in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, is getting roughly 30km of new trails, while e-bikers are getting 24km of new dedicated trails on the other side of the hill on a parcel of NRW land.
Singletracks.com spoke to founder Rowan Sorrell about the ambitious plans for the site, as he and his team were elbow-deep in repair work following damage from a recent storm.
“We’re planning to add 30 new descending trails in total, increasing the overall length of our rideable trails by roughly 30km,” said Sorrell. “The bulk will be within the current footprint of the park — using nice bits of woodland that we’ve always wanted to connect.”
Sorrell estimates the work will take between five and 10 years in total, but a couple of new features […]
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